Emily Chan
For instance, meerkats live in cooperative groups where they take turns watching for predators and help each other raise their young. On the other hand, tigers are mostly solitary except when mating or raising cubs.
The meerkat’s social structure may play a significant role in how long they live and their extended reproductive window compared to solitary animals of a similar size.
The study also uncovered some unexpected findings about population resilience. In general, social species were more resilient to environmental disturbances but were less able to take advantage of favorable conditions than less social species.
This suggests that complex social structures can benefit individuals, but they do not give species an advantage in adapting to environmental changes.
Furthermore, it appeared that the social level of an animal does not affect how quickly it ages or experiences a reproductive decline.
“Sociality is a fundamental aspect of many animals. However, we still lack cross-taxonomic evidence of the fitness costs and benefits of being social,” said Rob Salguero-Gómez, an associate professor at Oxford’s Department of Biology.
“Here, by using an unprecedented number of animal species, this work has demonstrated that species that are more social (most monkeys, humans, elephants, flamingos, and parrots) display longer life spans and reproductive windows than more solitary species (some fish, reptiles, and some insects).”
Overall, the research demonstrates that being more social does come with benefits. The study was published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
